Chapter 1: E Between D And F - Shooting Star (2)

Frank sniffed and looked at Baek Ho.

He stood dazed in front of an old TV.

He’d been like that from the start until now.

The only thing different was at Baek Ho’s feet.

A red magic circle that hadn’t been there before glowed faintly.

It had been like this before, too.

Whenever they reached certain places, an old TV or monitor would be there and Baek Ho would stare blankly at it.

And after a while he’d come to, battered and broken.

Sniff…

Frank leaned on the rooftop railing, wiping his tears with his tuxedo sleeve.

He looked past Necro Plaza.

He could see a round dome-shaped building wrapped in neon lights.

Multicolored lasers shot up into the sky and a massive hologram screen loomed.

The screen showed what was happening inside the dome.

<Does that star have a star above it too~♬

The leader of I_Vu smiled broadly and sang.

The camera then panned over the crowd filling the concert hall.

They shone using their prosthetics.

Some flashed ocular prosthetics, some mechanical arms, some prosthetic legs, and some Undead took off their tops and glowed across their chests.

“Ah…”

A woman surrounded by glowing prosthetics.

To Frank she looked like a celestial goddess wrapped in a galaxy.

<The only star that shines in the darkness~♬

“It’s a new song…”

There was no sound from the hologram screen.

It only displayed subtitles.

He tried to play the song on his Smartbone, but it hadn’t been uploaded.

Missing the chance to hear a fresh new song live.

Frank’s fragile tear ducts threatened to burst again, but he held back.

An idol is just an idol.

Not more precious than a friend.

<I wish that were you~♬

Frank took a folded placard from inside his jacket.

He held one in each hand and waved them above his head.

[I_Vu 60 I_KILL FOR YOU]

[Underheaven’s Star 60 I_Vu]

“I love you, I_Vu! Be eternal, I_Vu!”

Frank began to enjoy his silent solo concert like that.

Vowing that someday he’d hear that voice live.

---

-Your friend is quite amusing.

“Shut up. Not in the mood to talk right now.”

Baek Ho walked alone across a blood-red field.

Two crimson full moons hung in the sky.

The ground was a red swamp filled with armored corpses.

The stench of rotting flesh stung his nose and raven cries tearing at entrails buzzed in his head.

Baek Ho shifted his eyes to study the corpses’ appearance.

They had rat-like faces and child-sized bodies.

Gaunt hands clutched knives and spears.

“I feel like I’ve seen these before…”

He met the gaze of a crow picking at a belly.

It fluttered its wings and opened its beak wide.

Caw-

After that eerie cry, X’s mechanical voice continued.

-Code name NGC-7921-M. One of the alien species that invaded Earth, natives of the planet Rodensia. They were called Letman by old hunters. Currently inhabiting the undergrounds of ruined cities. Mainly Toronto, Los Angeles, Vancouver, Paris…

“Uh-huh.”

-You would have learned this at the academy. Doesn’t it ring a bell?

“Yeah.”

Baek Ho kept walking.

His shoes and pants were already soaked in blood.

He knew it was an illusion, but the tactile sensations and smells were indistinguishable from reality, making his discomfort skyrocket.

“Do you have to do it like this? I heard the magic academy uses VO videos for training these days.”

-This is already a simplified version. In the Hunter era, they had to reenact similar atrocities to contract with the beasts.

“I see… Wait. Reenacted exactly? Like when I contracted with Ilryong and Sangun last time?”

-Yes.

When contracting with Ilryong, he had to raft across a river filled with alien blood.

When contracting with Sangun, he had to climb a hill piled with alien bones.

The thought that they reenacted those horrific hellscapes in reality left him incredulous.

“No wonder black sorcerers were persecuted back then.”

-Indeed. If you wish, I can tell you about the lake burial incident by the black magic guild in New York’s Central Park.

“No need.”

Baek Ho continued walking.

With sky and ground both red, his ocular implants felt like they were malfunctioning.

“Huff…”

-What is your relationship with that friend?

“Who? Frank?”

-You promised last time. You said you’d tell me when you met again.

“Did I? Anyway, nothing special. A classmate from Superhuman Academy.”

-Ah. So you shared life-and-death experiences, making him special?

Baek Ho just walked on without answering.

He staggered, his head spinning.

He wanted to sit and rest for a moment, but couldn’t.

Caw- Caw-

If he did, the countless crows would swarm and peck him all over.

-I’ve heard of the Superhuman Academy too. They cruelly torture children to induce the Awakening of black magic power, breaking their minds to force trauma. Truly, necromancers are inhumane….

“When you think about it, aren’t you a black sorcerer too? And a high-grade one at that. At least Seventh Death Rank, I’d say.”

-I’m not a black sorcerer.

“Bullshit. If a necromancer of the Bari Sect isn’t a black sorcerer, then what is he?”

-The Bari Sect’s arts were labeled black magic because they summon things from the void; it’s a tragic martial practice tied to that label. It’s different in nature.

“No. Because they use black magic power, they’re grouped with black magic anyway.”

-That’s not so. Bari Sect necromancers of old did not use ritual pain. They drew out the dark instinct of humans 12 the pure negative energy hidden beneath mana… What are you doing?

Baek Ho looked around and said.

“Find a desk.”

-Why are you looking for that?

“If you’re going to lecture, I’m going to take a nap. The smell of blood makes it feel exactly like the academy. Perfect for a deep sleep.”

-…I’ll be quiet.

Baek Ho continued walking.

Just as the blood smell numbed his nostrils and his body tingled, X spoke again.

-Have you been steadily communing with the black deity beasts?

“I did. I bled quite often.”

-May I confirm?

“Do it. But how will you? Summon a demonic being to make me fight?”

-No. I’ll scan you. What era is this for live tests?

“…”

A gust heavy with the scent of blood blew from somewhere and swept over Baek Ho.

-Oh my.

“What’s so surprising. Well, my rank is a bit higher than my peers…”

-What have you been doing all this time? Very. Very. Very. Disappointing.

“…”

-At this level in the Hunter era, you’d have been a B-rank black necromancer.

“That’s fine. My current goal is to be a B-rank Fixer anyway.”

-This isn’t the time for jokes. A B-rank black necromancer in the past couldn’t even join a guild, had to roam low-grade gates and suffered scorn and hatred… and what else?

“Sorry. I dozed off for a second.”

-Ha. Ha. Ha.

“Hunters, guilds… it’s stuff you only hear about in school, so it makes me sleepy.”

-Those who forget the past have no future.

“Whatever. Talking with you feels like speaking to an elder necromancer. Always talking about hunters and hunters. Those old men are relics of the past, fine. But what are you? It’s been seventy years already.”

-Did you forget? I’m a Reincarnator. I’ve lived many lives from a distant past to now. Thus I possess vast knowledge.

“Last time you said you were a Regressor?”

-I’ve never said that.

He’d been caught in a bad lie.

He remembered the lie he’d told Sophia when they’d first met not long ago.

She probably didn’t believe him.

Just as he himself didn’t believe X’s claim to be a Reincarnator.

Caw-

Time passed again.

Baek Ho’s patience reached its limit.

His nostrils flaring as he was about to let out a string of curses.

-Here we are.

A stone altar appeared in the middle of the red field.

The timing was so perfect it felt as if the illusion had been prolonged just for the conversation.

“…A bit on the nose, isn’t it?”

Baek Ho wrenched his numb nose and stepped onto the altar.

On the wide, flat stone lay a square slab, and on it rested a single black feather.

-Today’s black deity beast I’ll introduce is the Calamity Bird.

“An ominous bird. Good vibe.”

-Would you like to look around?

Baek Ho crossed his arms and surveyed the surroundings.

A red swamp that seemed endless.

He saw Letman corpses packed with no space to step and black birds ravenously feasting.

“…They’re crows.”

-There’s disappointment in your voice.

“A little? Before it was a giant snake and a tiger, so of course it compares.”

-I see. Then I’ll introduce it straight away. The calamity god that turned the Lorensi continent into a blood swamp: the Calamity Bird.

As soon as X finished speaking, the crows all rose into the sky together.

It looked like storm clouds rising from the ground to cover the sky.

The two full moons seen through the rolling flock felt like the fierce gaze of a monstrous beast.

“Were there this many…?”

-Please pick up the feather on the altar.

As he did, writing appeared on the square stone.

It was an unfamiliar script so he couldn’t read it, but his ocular implant translated it into a language familiar to him.

“…Is this a summoning spell?”

-Yes.

“Who made this? Too many cartoons lately?”

-Well. When the Calamity Bird first appeared in the spirit realm, cartoons didn’t exist. Maybe stone murals did. Or are you stalling for time? Are you afraid?

“Shut up.”

Baek Ho frowned and stared at the letters engraved on the stone.

He slowly moved his lips.

“O calamity born from the scale of tones. Eye of the black heaven that devoured the corpse of gods. I call you upon the countless veins of blood 12break the abyssal egg and emerge to cast the shadow of doom.”

Baek Ho stretched his right hand toward the flock of crows.

“Yap.”

-…Yap?

“Something felt off.”

-Baek Ho. Be serious. The Calamity Bird hates life. It will not lend power willingly. It may rage at being summoned and inflict great pain.

“Uh. But why’s there no response? Did it play a prank…?”

Baek Ho stopped and clutched his heart.

He widened his eyes and opened his mouth.

He trembled as a strong pressure pressed on his head.

He looked up at the sky through reddening, bloodshot eyes.

The movement of the crows filling the sky shifted.

They no longer swirled in one direction but tangled chaotically.

As if pulled by an invisible net, they gathered into one.

Dududududu-

Thousands upon thousands of crows hurled themselves at one another.

Feathers were crushed and black dust scattered.

Beaks slammed together with a deafening clamor.

Blood and flesh gushed out, whipping around like a storm of gore.

Baek Ho’s hand trembled.

He was speechless at the grotesque sight.

Fear rose from his toes.

If he stayed, he’d suffocate from terror.

Dududududu-

The flock’s bloodied self-harm did not stop.

Before long, the countless birds became a single mass.

It was so massive that all he could see was a dark red sphere.

It glimmered in the red moonlight like a dark red moon descended to earth… a doom-bearing egg of calamity.

“Gah…”

Blood seeped from between Baek Ho’s lips.

Strength drained from his body and his knees buckled, and that seemed to signal the sphere to change form.

The sphere shifted into the shape of a beast.

The calamity began to hatch.

Crack-

It began with two pairs of wings.

A curtain of darkness spread across the sky, blotting out the red moons, then legs and talons sprouted and rooted into the ground.

A thud and the earth shook with a roar.

When the head and beak finished forming, eight red eyes bubbled up in the center of its head.

A gigantic monstrous bird that dominated the sky.

Its ferocious, overwhelming presence crushed him to his core.

A deep helplessness choked his breath.

He wanted to drop to his knees, cover his eyes and ears, and pray for the moment to end.

But he couldn’t.

He couldn’t even twitch a finger.

All he could do was painfully realize how powerless he was in the face of that supernatural phenomenon.

“Damn…”

Did it hear Baek Ho’s faint voice?

The eight red gazes moved downward.

They stared fixedly at the human smaller than their pupils.

The massive beak opened and closed, and a sound burst forth as if thousands of voices had merged into one.

<Excellent.

“…”

<I like you.

-This is anomalous. The Calamity Bird liking a human is impossible. Critical error. Analysis required.

X’s voice was only audible to Baek Ho, so the Calamity Bird gave no particular reaction.

<But its body’s balance is collapsing; it seems it could die at any moment.

Baek Ho slightly opened his mouth while staring straight into the Calamity Bird’s eyes.

Blood gushed out.

-You mustn’t meet its gaze. Even in an illusion, directly staring into the Calamity Bird’s eyes is too much.

“Hurry up and proceed…”

Baek Ho averted his gaze.

But the crushing pressure on his body did not lessen at all.

<Good. I see the death energy clustered in your heart; you’re skilled in necromancy. But why do you use life as collateral for power? Did you make a deal with denizens of the demon realm?

“F-f-faster…”

The crushing pressure made it hard for the Calamity Bird’s words to penetrate his head.

<Yes, a child who defies death. What will you give me as payment for lending my power?

“F-…first strike…”

<I’ll take your heart.>

“That was… Sangun’s…”

<Oh. To have such a prized cut taken by an arrogant cat. It’s a pity I’m not the first. Then I’ll take your spine.

“That was Ilryong’s…”

<An imeogi? To try and hold three calamities in such a frail body. Even the divine ranks recoil at that.

“E-eyes… just take my eyes…”

<Very well. Let’s make the contract. Remember: on the day your lifespan is cut, I will devour the eyes of your soul.

“T-the deity… it talks so much…”

<It delights me. Your fate is interesting, your appearance entertaining. For decades humans sought this form. Yes, I recall the last time: a great green in a human city. New York Central Park. They cast twenty thousand living sacrifices into a lake to manifest me…

“F… fuck… it talks so damn much…”

Baek Ho collapsed forward.

At the same time, the illusion vanished.

The vast Calamity Bird and the blood-red swamp all disappeared.

All that remained was a fake night sky and a neon-drenched city.

He heard the sharp noise of holographic ads and Hovercar engines.

He’d returned to the mega-building rooftop, but the accumulated blood and pain in his body remained.

He felt like he might faint at any moment.

-Remarkable indeed….

X’s voice flowed from the old TV.

-That brutal Calamity Bird showing such kindness… Indeed, I have an eye for such things. If so, I can introduce other black deity beasts more quickly. But you must grow stronger in return.

“My… my gun…”

Baek Ho twitched his immobilized arm.

He wanted to pull out his revolver and shoot that TV right away.

-Anyway, congratulations. You’ve grown stronger. Pain is indispensable to gain power. Keep coughing up blood and carving your body, and one day the night city will be in your grasp.

“I don’t need that… my goal is…”

Baek Ho moved his eyes and looked at Frank.

He was standing by the railing, dancing happily.

The very hand that had pulled him from among corpses now waved a placard.

“I love you, I_Vu! Be eternal, I_Vu!”

…Should he just quit?

Baek Ho lost consciousness then and there.